The  State  Barge 
Canal 


Will  Cost  $130,000,000  Including  Real 
Estate  and  Terminals 

$ 1 9,800,000  Appropriated  for  Terminals. 
Nine  in  Manhattan,  Two  in  the 
Bronx,  Two  in  Brooklyn,  but 
None  in  Queens 


Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  Borough  of 
Queens  Recommends  Four  Terminals 


From  New  York  Sun 
Sunday,  March  8,  1914 


ISSUED  BY  THE 

CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE 
of  the  BOROUGH  OF  QUEENS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/statebargecanalOOcham 


' f ' H X !r  1 


QS  Is  ' StWmi  :’5;a  — 

The  State  Barge  Canal 

From  New  York  ^un 


Sunday,  March  8,  1914 

The  annual  report  of  State  Engineer  John  A.  Bensel 
relative  to  the  State  Barge  Canal  shows  that  this  great 
work  is  much  nearer  completion  than  is  generally  sup- 
posed. The  report  states  that  contracts  to  the  amount 
of  $82,000,000  have  been  let  and  that  work  to  the 
amount  of  $63,000,000,  or  about  60  per  cent,  of  all  the 
work  on  the  canal,  which  is  to  cost  a little  over  $100, 
000,000,  exclusive  of  real  estate  and  terminals,  has  been 
completed. 

So  much  has  been  printed  about  the  Panama  Canal 
that  nearly  every  one  has  at  least  a general  idea  of  where 
it  is,  what  it  is,  its  cost  and  the  results  which  are  expect- 
ed from  it.  On  the  other  hand  very  few  people  even  in 
New  York  State  have  anything  but  the  most  vague  in- 
formation about  the  Barge  Canal,  notwithstanding  that 
the  benefits  to  the  State  in  general  and  to  the  port  of  New 
York  in  particular  will  be  many  times  greater  than  from 
the  Panama  Canal. 

In  order  to  understand  the  relative  size  of  the  two 
canals  a comparison  of  the  main  features  is  necessary. 


3 


In  the  first  place  the  Barge  Canal  is  540  miles  long,  as 
compared  to  the  fifty  miles  of  the  Panama  Canal.  It 
has  57  locks  and  39  dams,  while  the  Panama  Canal 
has  only  6 locks  and  4 dams.  The  cost  of  the  Barge 
Canal  including  terminals  and  real  estate,  will  be  approx- 
imately $130,000,000,  as  compared  with  $375,000,000 
for  the  Panama  Canal. 

Columns  have  been  printed  about  the  enormous 
amount  of  excavation  and  concrete  in  the  Panama  Canal, 
but  the  figures  show  that  the  Barge  Canal  will  require 
considerably  more  than  half  the  amount  of  excavation  and 
concrete  in  the  Panama  Canal,  the  figures  being  1 1 4,000, 
000  cubic  yards  of  excavation  in  the  Barge  Canal,  as 
compared  with  203,000,000  cubic  yards  in  the  Panama 
Canal,  and  2,750,000  cubic  yards  of  concrete  in  the 
Barge  Canal,  as  compared  with  5,000,000  cubic  yards 
in  the  Panama  Canal. 

Probably  the  most  striking  comparison,  however,  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  whereas  the  total  lift  of  the  Pan- 
ama Canal  is  only  eighty-five  feet  the  lift  of  the  Barge 
Canal  is  525  feet.  In  other  words,  a barge  starting  at 
tidewater  from  the  port  of  New  York  will  be  569  feet 
above  sea  level,  or  nearly  as  high  as  the  top  of  the 
Singer  Building,  when  it  reaches  Lake  Erie,  the  actual 
lift  in  the  locks  being  525  feet  and  the  difference  of 
forty-four  feet  being  the  result  of  the  natural  flow  of 
the  water. 


4 


The  barges  not  only  finally  reach  an  elevation  of 
569  feet,  but  they  go  up  and  down  steps,  as  it  were,  on 
the  way,  climbing  to  a height  of  2 1 1 feet  at  Schenec- 
tady and  420  feet  at  Rome,  then  down  to  the  level  of 
363  feet  at  Syracuse  and  up  again  to  5 1 2 feet  at  Roch- 
ester, then  on  a level  to  Lockport,  where  they  climb 
fifty  feet  and  then  on  to  Buffalo  at  the  569  foot  level. 
From  Syracuse  the  Oswego  branch  of  the  canal  drops 
1 19  feet  to  Lake  Ontario,  while  the  Lake  Champlain 
branch  climbs  140  feet  from  the  Hudson  River  at 
Albany  to  Fort  Edward  and  then  drops  forty-four 
feet  to  Lake  Champlain. 

Barge  Canal  Tonnage  Greater  Than  Combined 
Foreign  Tonnage  oj  All  Atlantic  Ports 
Except  New  York- 

A comparison  of  the  benefits  to  be  derived 
by  the  port  of  New  York  from  the  Barge  Canal 
with  those  which  are  expected  from  the  Panama 
Canal  brings  out  some  facts  so  startling  that  if 
they  were  not  backed  up  by  State  and  Govern- 
ment reports  they  would  be  almost  unbelievable. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  estimated  that  the  Barge  Canal 
will  carry  right  from  the  start  a tonnage  equal  to  the 
total  tonnage  which  is  expected  to  pass  through  the  Pan- 
ama Canal.  It  is  estimated  that  the  Barge  Canal, 
which  has  a capacity  of  from  20,000,000  to  30,- 


5 


000,000  tons  per  annum,  will  in  the  beginning 
handle  at  least  10,000,000  tons  of  freight  a year, 
which  is  practically  the  same  as  the  estimate  for  the 
Panama  Canal. 

To  understand  what  an  enormous  tonnage  the  Barge 
Canal  will  handle  a comparison  with  the  total  foreign 
tonnage  now  entering  the  port  of  New  York  and  the 
total  foreign  tonnage  entering  all  of  the  other  Atlantic 
ports  is  interesting: 

The  foreign  commerce  entering  this  port  now 
amounts  to  1 3,673,000  tons  a year.  The  total  tonnage 
entering  the  ten  next  largest  ports  on  the  Atlantic  coast 
amounts  to  9, 1 47,000  tons  a year.  In  other  words, 
the  tonnage  through  the  Barge  Canal  in  the 
beginning  will  amount  to  nearly  75  per  cent  of 
the  entire  foreign  tonnage  at  this  port  and  will 
be  greater  than  the  total  foreign  tonnage  enter- 
ing the  ten  largest  ports  on  the  Atlantic  coast 
exclusive  of  New  York. 

In  order  to  appreciate  what  an  enormous  amount 
1 0,000,000  tons  really  is,  a comparison  with  the  same 
volume  if  handled  by  rail  is  interesting. 

Ten  million  tons  would  fill  333,333  freight  cars  hav- 
ing a capacity  of  thirty  tons  each,  which  would  make 
a solid  train  2,522  miles  long.  This  train  if  moving  at 
the  average  speed  of  freight  trains,  twenty  miles  an 
hour,  would  take  over  five  days  to  pass  a given  point. 


6 


It  would  extend  from  New  York  to  Chicago  and  back 
again,  with  enough  cars  left  over  to  reach  from  New 
York  to  Cleveland. 

If  10,000,000  tons  a year  seems  a large  volume  of 
business  for  the  Barge  Canal  to  handle  it  should  be 
remembered  that  this  amount,  which  is  only  one-third 
of  its  capacity,  is  small  in  comparison  with  the  tonnage 
through  the  Soo  Canal,  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior, 
through  which  72,472,676  tons  passed  in  1912. 

When  it  is  considered  that  the  tonnage  through  the 
Panama  Canal  will  be  derived  from  not  only  all  the 
ports  of  the  United  States  but  also  from  the  principal 
ports  all  over  the  world  it  can  be  readily  seen  that  the 
percentage  of  benefits  which  will  accrue  to  any  one  port 
will  be  relatively  small  and  that  the  increased  tonnage 
by  which  the  port  of  New  York  will  be  benefited  will 
be  relatively  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  ton- 
nage from  the  Barge  Canal. 

41  Cents  Per  Ton  by  Barge  Canal, 

$3.11  by  Rail. 

As  startling  as  are  the  facts  relative  to  the  tonnage  of 
the  State  Barge  Canal,  even  more  astounding  is  the 
official  statement  of  the  cost  of  bringing  freight  through 
the  canal  from  the  great  lakes  to  this  port. 

The  present  average  cost  of  carrying  a ton 


7 


of  freight  by  rail  from  Buffalo  to  New  York  is 
officially  stated  to  be  $1.96  a ton,  whereas  the 
cost  of  carrying  freight  by  the  Barge  Canal  is 
officially  estimated  to  be  only  26  cents  a ton, 
a saving  in  actual  cost  of  $1.70  a ton.  On 
the  10,000,000  tons  which  the  Barge  Canal 
is  expected  to  handle  from  the  beginning  this 
would  amount  to  a saving  of  $17,000,000  a 
year. 

The  foregoing  statement,  it  should  be  remembered,  is 
a comparison  of  the  actual  cost  of  carrying  freight  by 
rail  and  through  the  canal  and  is  not  a comparison  of 
the  charges  made  by  the  railroads  and  to  be  made 
through  the  canal. 

It  is  officially  stated  that  the  average  charge 
for  carrying  a ton  of  freight  from  Buffalo  to 
New  York  by  rail  is  $3.11  and  the  charge  by 
the  Barge  Canal  between  the  same  points,  fig* 
uring  on  a liberal  profit,  is  estimated  to  be  only 
41  cents  a ton.  There  would  therefore  be  a 
saving  of  $2.70  a ton,  or  a total  saving  on  the 
10,000,000  tons  of  $27,000,000  a year. 

It  is  hard  to  realize  that  a ton  of  freight  can  actually 
be  brought  from  Buffalo  to  New  York  for  41  cents 
and  pay  a satisfactory  profit  to  the  carrier,  but  when  it 
is  understood  that  the  new  barges  will  have  a maximum 


8 


capacity  of  3,000  tons  in  comparison  with  250  tons, 
the  capacity  of  the  present  barges,  and  that  the  new 
barges  will  have  two  and  a half  times  the  speed  of  the 
old  barges,  the  reason  for  the  low  cost  is  apparent.  In 
other  words,  a 3,000  ton  barge  at  the  rate  of  41  cents  a 
ton  would  earn  $1,230  for  the  trip  from  Buffalo  to 
New  York,  a distance  of  440  miles.  On  the  other 
hand,  a 250  ton  barge  could  only  earn  at  the  same  rate 
$102.50  for  the  trip,  which  would  take  two  and  a half 
times  as  long  as  the  new  barges. 

If  4 1 cents  a ton  seems  very  low  for  carrying  freight 
by  water  from  Buffalo  to  New  York,  a distance  of  440 
miles,  it  has  only  to  be  compared  with  the  report  of 
1913  of  the  United  States  engineer  in  charge  of  the 
Soo  Canal,  which  shows  that  the  average  cost  of  car- 
rying the  72,472,676  tons  passing  through  the  canal 
in  1912  for  an  average  distance  of  831  miles  was  56 
cents  a ton.  In  other  words,  if  the  tonnage  through  the 
Soo  Canal  can  be  carried  83 1 miles  at  an  average  cost 
of  56  cents  a ton  it  stands  to  reason  that  there  will  be  a 
fair  profit  in  carrying  freight  through  the  Barge  Canal 
440  miles  for  a charge  of  4 1 cents  a ton. 

Iron  Ore  Delivered  at  the  Port  of  New  York  Cheaper 
Than  at  Pittsburgh. 

That  the  effect  of  bringing  raw  materials  for  41 
cents  a ton  from  the  great  lakes,  the  greatest  source  of 


9 


cheap  raw  materials  in  the  world,  to  New  York,  the 
greatest  seaport  and  distributing  point  in  the  world,  will 
be  tremendous  no  one  can  doubt.  That  it  is  already 
attracting  the  attention  of  manufacturers  is  shown  by 
Dr.  Edward  Ewing  Pratt,  head  of  the  industrial  bu- 
reau of  the  Merchants’  Association  of  New  Y ork,  who 
states  that  the  completion  of  the  New  York  State 
Barge  Canal  will  make  it  possible  for  the  port  of  New 
York  to  receive  ore  cheaper  from  the  Lake  Superior 
mines  than  Pittsburg,  Lackawanna  or  South  Bethle- 
hem can  obtain  their  raw  materials  from  their  respective 
sources  of  supply. 

This  can  be  readily  understood  when  it  is  considered 
that  iron  ore  for  the  Pittsburg  furnaces  must  be  brought 
from  the  Lake  Superior  mines  by  water  to  Lake  Erie 
ports  and  then  transferred  to  freight  cars  and  shipped 
by  rail  to  Pittsburg,  whereas  it  will  be  possible  to  bring 
ore  from  the  Lake  Superior  mines  to  the  port  of  New 
York  all  the  way  by  water. 

The  Government  report  of  the  cost  of  carrying 
freight  through  the  great  lakes  shows  that  the  average  is 
67-100  mill  a ton  mile,  at  which  rate  it  would  cost  74 
cents  a ton  to  bring  iron  ore  from  the  mines  to  Buffalo. 
If  the  charge  of  41  cents  through  the  Barge  Canal  is 
added  it  would  make  the  rate  for  bringing  the  ore  from 
the  mines  to  New  Y ork  $1.15  a ton. 


10 


Inasmuch  as  the  Government  report  is  a statement 
of  actual  cost  on  the  great  lakes  it  would  only  be  fair 
to  add  a fair  profit,  which  would  bring  the  total  charge 
from  the  mines  to  the  port  of  New  York  up  to  about 
$1.50  a ton.  As  compared  to  this,  on  steel  manufac- 
tured at  Pittsburg  there  is  the  cost  of  bringing  the  ore 
to  that  point  by  water  and  rail,  to  which  must  be  added 
the  freight  charge  of  $2.65  a ton  for  bringing  the  steel 
to  the  port  of  New  York. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  above  statement 
by  the  Merchants’  Association  is  absolutely  correct, 
and  there  only  remains  to  be  figured  out  the  actual  dif- 
ference in  favor  of  the  port  of  New  York. 

20,000,000  Population  Reached  by  New 
Waterway  System. 

The  bringing  of  raw  materials  at  a low  cost  from  the 
interior  to  the  port  of  New  York  is  not  the  only  advan- 
tage which  the  Barge  Canal  will  give  manufacturers 
located  at  this  port.  Another  advantage  which  may 
prove  to  be  of  incalculable  value  is  that  the  canal  pro- 
vides facilities  for  shipping  to  the  interior  at  a low  cost, 
products  manufactured  here  from  the  raw  materials  ob- 
tained abroad. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  importance  of  this  ad- 
vantage, it  is  only  necessary  to  consider  one  of  the  most 


ll 


remarkable  facts  brought  out  in  the  last  report  of  the 
State  Engineer,  in  which  there  is  a map  showing  that 
the  territory  within  ten  miles  of  the  Barge  Canal  con- 
tains 82  per  cent,  of  the  total  population  of  the  State. 

In  other  words,  the  State  of  New  York  has  an  esti- 
mated population  of  10,000,000,  of  which  8,200,000 
live  within  ten  miles  of  the  Barge  Canal.  This  does  not 
include  any  part  of  the  great  lakes  or  the  St.  Lawrence 
River,  which  might  properly  be  regarded  as  parts  of 
the  waterway  system.  If  this  territory  were  included, 
it  would  take  in  all  the  large  cities  on  the  great  lakes 
and  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  would  include  ap- 
proximately one-fifth  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States. 

In  other  words  a manufacturer  located  at  the 
port  of  New  York,  when  the  Barge  Canal  is 
completed,  will  have  probably  the  lowest  freight 
rate  in  the  world  to  a population  of  8,200,000 
in  the  State  of  New  York  and  to  a total  popu- 
lation of  approximately  20,000,000,  including 
the  great  lakes  and  the  St.  Lawrence  River. 

23,000  Feet  of  New  ‘Docks  Required  in  Greater 
New  York- 

The  State  has  appropriated  $ 1 9,000,000  for  Barge 
Canal  terminals,  which  are  to  be  selected  by  the  Barge 
Canal  Terminal  Commission. 


12 


This  commission  evidently  appreciates  the  enormous 
volume  of  business  which  will  result  from  the  opening 
of  the  canal,  for  it  has  recommended  the  establishment 
of  approximately  23,000  feet  of  new  docks  for  ter- 
minals in  various  parts  of  New  York  City. 

One  of  the  most  important  recommendations  is  for 
a port  of  call,  to  be  located  in  the  Hudson  River  just 
south  of  the  Harlem  River,  where  it  is  proposed  to 
break  up  the  large  tows  coming  down  the  Hudson 
River  and  distribute  the  barges  from  this  as  a central 
station.  This  port  of  call,  which  will  begin  300  feet 
north  of  Dyckman  Street,  will  extend  northerly  for  a 
distance  of  approximately  2,300  feet  to  near  the  en- 
trance of  the  Harlem  River.  It  is  recommended  that 
this  section  be  improved  by  dredging  to  a depth  of  at 
least  twelve  feet  of  water,  and  that  a suitable  number 
of  dolphins  or  pile  clusters  be  provided  to  which  barges 
may  be  attached. 

The  commission  also  recommends  for  terminals,  in 
addition  to  the  2,300  feet  at  the  port  of  call,  9,406 
feet  in  Manhattan,  3,630  feet  in  The  Bronx,  6,300 
feet  on  Gowanus  Bay  and  3,865  feet  on  Newtown 
Creek. 

Some  idea  of  the  water  front  required  for  each  ter- 
minal may  be  learned  from  the  fact  that  the  recom- 
mendation is  that  there  be  acquired  along  the  Hudson 


13 


River  in  Manhattan  960  feet  of  dockage  near  135th 
Street,  980  feet  near  West  Seventy-eighth  Street, 
1,400  feet  in  the  vicinity  of  West  Fifty-first  Street, 
1,560  feet  near  Gansevoort  Street,  and  1,700  feet  near 
Vestry  Street. 

On  the  East  River  it  is  recommended  that  2,286 
feet  be  acquired  at  the  Canal  Basin  and  520  feet  at 
Grand  Street.  In  The  Bronx  it  is  recommended  that 
250  feet  be  acquired  at  Spuyten  Duyvil,  1 ,920  feet  at 
Sherman  Creek,  860  feet  at  Mott  Haven  and  600  feet 
at  East  136th  Street.  In  Brooklyn  it  is  recommended 
that  6,300  feet  be  acquired  on  Gowanus  Bay,  which, 
with  the  3,865  feet  on  Newtown  Creek,  makes  a total 
of  23,201  feet. 


No  Barge  Terminals  in  Queens  Except  at  Flushing 
Bay  and  Jamaica  Bay. 

The  commission  has  failed  so  far  to  make  any  rec- 
ommendation for  terminals  in  Queens,  except  at  Flush- 
ing Bay  and  Jamaica  Bay.  When  these  improvements 
are  completed,  which  will  probably  be  many  years  from 
now,  the  Flushing  Bay  terminal  will  serve  only  a lim- 
ited territory  in  that  vicinity,  and  the  Jamaica  Bay  ter- 
minal is  intended  principally  for  trans-shipment  by 
steamers. 


14 


It  is  true  that  the  terminal  at  Greenpoint,  on  New- 
town Creek,  although  on  the  Brooklyn  side,  will  serve 
both  sides  of  the  creek,  but  it  is  practically  inaccessible 
by  trucks  from  nine-tenths  of  Long  Island  City  on  ac- 
► count  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad  yards  and  New- 

town Creek,  which  must  be  crossed  to  reach  it. 

, In  view  of  the  marvelous  growth  of  manu- 

facturing plants  in  Long  Island  City,  and  the 
further  fact  that  it  seems  destined  to  be  entirely 
covered  with  factories,  warehouses  and  tene- 
ment houses  for  employees,  it  would  seem  as  if 
the  Terminal  Commission  has  not  properly 
recognized  the  demands  of  this  rapidly  growing 
section. 

Long  Island  City,  which  is  identical  with  the  First 
Ward  of  the  Borough  of  Queens,  comprises  only  4,650 
acres  out  of  the  82,000  acres  in  that  borough,  but  al- 
though it  is  only  a small  part  of  the  total  area  it  should 
be  remembered  that  the  East  Side  of  Manhattan,  in- 
cluding the  district  east  of  a line  following  Lexington 
Avenue  to  Fourteenth  Street  and  Third  Avenue  south 
of  that  point,  comprises  only  2,767  acres  and  contains 
a population  of  1,165,000,  or  almost  exactly  half  the 
population  of  Manhattan. 

If  Long  Island  City  is  to  be  in  fact  a duplicate  of  the 
East  Side  of  Manhattan  the  thousands  of  factories  and 


15 


warehouses  and  the  enormous  population  that  will  ulti- 
mately live  there  will  be  poorly  served  by  barge  ter- 
minals south  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad  yards  and 
across  Newtown  Creek.  A more  central  location 
should  be  selected;  in  fact  another  barge  terminal  cen- 
trally located  in  Long  Island  City  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary if  this  section  is  to  receive  its  full  share  of  the  bene- 
fits from  the  canal. 

A barge  terminal  is  nothing  more  or  less 
than  a freight  station  on  the  water-front,  from 
which  the  public  can  truck  freight  arriving  by 
canalboats,  just  the  same  as  they  do  from  freight 
stations  on  railroads. 

Long  Island  City  is  in  the  same  relative  position 
with  respect  to  a barge  terminal  as  it  would  be  if  the 
Long  Island  Railroad  did  not  have  a freight  station 
there  and  all  freight  had  to  be  trucked  from  Woodside 
or  some  other  outside  point. 

Large  Manufacturers  Must  Have  Cheap  Land 

In  the  location  of  the  barge  canal  terminals  the  com- 
mission seems  not  to  have  recognized  one  fact  of  the 
greatest  importance,  and  that  is  manufacturing  plants 
requiring  any  considerable  amount  of  land  cannot  and 
will  not  locate  in  Manhattan  nor  in  the  built  up  sec- 
tions of  Brooklyn.  All  such  plants  must  have  cheap 


16 


land,  and  the  only  place  where  cheap  land  can  be  ac- 
quired close  to  the  heart  of  Manhattan  is  in  Queens. 

No  manufacturer  will  locate  on  land  costing  $10 
a square  foot  in  Manhattan  when  he  can 
locate  on  land  at  $1  a square  foot  directly 
across  the  river,  but  he  cannot  locate  on  cheap 
land  and  get  the  benefit  of  the  barge  terminal 
rates  unless  his  plant  is  on  the  water  front  or 
within  trucking  distance  of  a barge  terminal. 

Manufacturing  plants  in  Long  Island  City  will  have 
not  only  the  advantage  of  cheap  land  but  they  will  have 
the  additional  advantage  of  being  within  easy  trucking 
distance  of  the  heart  of  Manhattan,  and  no  manufac- 
turing plant  can  afford  to  locate  to-day  anywhere  with- 
out taking  into  consideration  the  automobile  truck, 
which  now  plays  such  an  important  part  in  every 
industry. 

Although  the  city  of  New  York  in  general  and  the 
Borough  of  Queens  in  particular  does  not  seem  to  real- 
ize the  tremendous  importance  of  the  State  Barge 
Canal  and  its  revolutionizing  effect  upon  manufactur- 
ing at  this  port,  the  waterfront  authorities  in  New  Jer- 
sey seem  to  be  fully  alive  to  the  situation,  as  shown  by 
the  fact  that  the  New  Jersey  Harbor  Commission  in  its 
report  just  issued  shows  plans  for  a barge  canal  ter- 
minal on  Newark  Bay  between  Elizabeth  and  New- 


17 


ark  which  will  provide  nearly  twenty  miles  additional 
dock  frontage. 

When  it  is  considered  that  in  all  Greater  New 
York  only  23,000  feet,  or  less  than  five  miles, 
are  provided,  not  a foot  of  which  is  in  the 
Borough  of  Queens,  it  can  be  readily  seen  that 
the  benefits  from  the  $130,000,000  expended 
for  the  Barge  Canal  by  the  State  of  New  York 
will  be  to  a considerable  extent  absorbed  by 
the  State  of  New  Jersey  unless  something  is 
done,  and  done  quickly,  to  retain  the  benefits 
at  home. 

When  it  is  further  considered  that  there  are  224 
miles  of  developed  dockage  in  the  city  of  New  York 
and  that  over  three  miles  of  new  wharfage  is  being 
added  each  year  it  is  evident  that  the  available  water 
front  suitable  for  large  terminals  will  be  entirely  ab- 
sorbed before  many  years.  If,  therefore,  the  State  of 
New  York  does  not  provide  sufficient  canal  terminals 
at  this  port  the  city  should  provide  them  at  its  own  ex- 
pense, on  the  same  principle  as  that  on  which  it  has  al- 
ready purchased  and  developed  sixty-two  miles  of 
wharfage,  now  leased  at  a considerable  profit  over  and 
above  interest  and  sinking  fund  charges. 


18 


Queens  Chamber  Selects 
Locations  for  Barge  Canal 
Terminals. 

Commerce  Board  Demands  Freighting  Facilities 

for  Busy  Industrial  Districts  of  the  Borough. 

Names  Newton  Creek,  Hallett’s  Cove,  Bowery 
Bay  and  Flushing  Creek  as  Desirable  Points. 

[From  New  York  Herald,  Sunday,  March  29,  1914] 

That  Queens  Borough  shall  participate  in  the  benefits 
of  the  $101,000,000  State  barge  canal  appropriation,  as 
also  in  the  $19,000,000  to  be  spent  in  terminals,  is  the 
demand  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  Borough 
of  Queens. 

As  a first  move  toward  strengthening  this  demand,  at  a 
joint  meeting  of  the  Industrial  and  Commerce  committees 
of  the  Chamber  held  last  week  a resolution  was  adopted 
advocating  the  location  of  barge  canal  terminals  in  Queens 
Borough  in  the  locations  following  : 

First — Newtown  Creek,  between  Borden  Avenue 
and  Hunter’s  Point  Avenue,  on  the  Dutch  Kills  Canal. 
t Second — East  River,  in  Hallett’s  Cove,  near  the  foot 

of  Jamaica  Avenue. 


19 


Third — Bowery  Bay,  just  east  of  Benrians  Island. 

Fourth — Flushing  Creek,  between  Jackson  Avenue 
and  the  north  shore  division  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad. 

These  recommendations  have  been  submitted  to  the 
Barge  Canal  Terminal  Commission,  to  John  A.  Bensel, 
State  Engineer ; to  R.  A.  C.  Smith,  Dock  Commissioner, 
and  to  Borough  President  Connolly,  and  a committee 
representing  the  Chamber  will  call  upon  the  State 
Engineer  and  show  him  the  existing  necessity  of  locating 
these  terminals  in  Queens  at  the  points  named,  also  to 
request  that  arrangements  to  construct  such  facilities  may 
be  made. 

A brief  is  now  being  prepared  by  Walter  I.  Willis, 
secretary  of  the  Chamber,  under  the  direction  of  C.  G. 
M.  Thomas,  chairman  of  the  Manufacturing  Committee, 
and  Captain  Frederick  Russell,  chairman  of  the  Com- 
merce Committee,  containing  reasons  why  barge  canal 
terminals  should  be  located  at  the  points  designated. 
This  brief  will  show  both  the  necessity  and  the  superi- 
ority of  these  locations,  the  excellent  railroad  facilities 
afforded  in  conjunction  therewith,  the  factories  that  will 
be  benefited,  the  sections  of  Queens  Borough  and  Long 
Island  that  will  be  benefited  and  the  opportunities  for  future 
development  that  will  result  from  such  a location  of  the 
terminals  proposed. 

A terminal  in  the  Dutch  Kills  Canal,  a tributary  to 

Newtown  Creek,  would  have  direct  connection  with  the 

20 


Long  Island  Railroad,  and  in  addition  to  giving  cheaper 
shipping  facilities  to  the  hundreds  of  factories  in  this 
section,  would  be  of  value  not  only  to  every  section 
of  Queens,  but  to  all  of  Long  Island.  Also  by  direct 
connection  with  the  connecting  railroad  it  would  be  the 
shortest  route  from  the  West  to  serve  all  New  England. 

In  this  immediate  neighborhood  the  Degnon  Terminal 
Company  alone  will  erect  modern  factory  buildings  esti- 
mated to  cost  more  than  $30,000,000.  Newtown  Creek 
is  known  as  the  “busiest  waterway  of  its  size  in  the 
world,”  and  in  1910  the  tonnage  of  its  traffic  was  greater 
than  the  combined  tonnage  of  all  the  canals  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  While  a terminal  is  proposed  for  the 
Greenpoint  section  of  Brooklyn  on  the  south  side  of 
Newtown  Creek,  such  a station  is  considered  to  be  of 
but  little  value  to  the  industries  of  Long  Island  City. 

A terminal  on  the  East  River  in  the  vicinity  of  Hallet’s 
Cove,  near  the  foot  of  Jamaica  Avenue,  would  serve  not 
only  all  the  factories  that  now  line  the  East  River  shore 
for  a distance  of  almost  four  miles,  but  would  be  centrally 
located  and  midway  between  the  mouth  of  Newtown 
Creek  and  the  beginning  of  Long  Island  City,  and  not 
be  further  away  than  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  time  of  travel 
by  automobile  truck  to  the  most  distant  factory. 

A terminal  on  Bowery  Bay,  just  east  of  Berrian’s 
Island,  would  have  a strategical  location,  less  than  three 
miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Harlem  ship  canal.  Here 

21 


* 


barge  canal  boats  coming  from  the  North  River  to  the 
East  River  could  unload  their  cargoes  without  having  to 
travel  many  miles  to  the  south  on  the  East  River. 

A terminal  on  Flushing  Creek  between  Jackson 
Avenue  and  the  North  Shore  division  of  the  Long  Island 
Railroad  would  be  of  value  not  only  to  the  entire  North 
side  of  Long  Island,  but  with  the  straightening  and 
widening  of  Flushing  Creek,  arrangements  for  which  are 
now  progressing  rapidly,  would  enable  barge  canal  boats 
to  bring  such  commodities  as  coal,  lumber,  building 
supplies,  &c.,  to  Jamaica,  Richmond  Hill,  Forest  Hill, 
Newtown,  and  in  fact  to  serve  the  whole  centre  of  Long 
Island.  In  this  vicinity  millions  of  dollars  have  been  spent 
within  the  last  few  years  in  developing  the  meadow  land. 


22 


Barge  Canal  Terminals  recommended  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  Borough  of  Queens. 


